Sugar cane harvester with trash discharge assistant

ABSTRACT

A cane harvester having a billet cutter and conveyor means to carry the billets issuing from the cutter, fan means disposed to project an air stream upwardly through the billets to separate trash therefrom, a trash discharge opening disposed to one side of the conveyor, a power-driven toothed roller positioned adjacent a lower edge of said opening to grip trash, unusual heavy trash in particular, and propel same outwardly through said opening.

United States Patent Inventor Harry R. Hill Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia App]. No. 16,117 Filed Mar. 3, 1970 Patented Sept. 28, 1971 Assignee International Harvester Company Chicago, 111.

SUGAR CANE HARVESTER WITH TRASH DISCHARGE ASSISTANT 6 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 146/117, 146/222 Int. Cl v AQ 1d 5 5/18 Field of Search 146/ 1 17-122 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,169,522 8/1939 Dahlberg et a1. 146/116.1 UX 3,324,860 6/1967 Kepkay 146/1 17 R Primary Examiner-Willie G. Abercrombie Attorney-Floyd B. Harman ABSTRACT: A cane harvester having a billet cutter and conveyor means to carry the billets issuing from the cutter, fan means disposed to project an air stream upwardly through the billets to separate trash therefrom, a trash discharge opening disposed to one side of the conveyor, a power-driven toothed roller positioned adjacent a lower edge of said opening to grip trash, unusual heavy trash in particular, and propel same outwardly through said opening.

PATENTED SEP28 I97! mw c...

SUGAR CANE HARVESTER WITH TRASH DISCHARGE ASSISTANT This invention relates to cane harvesters of the type wherein the cane stalks are cut into billets and an air stream is employed to separate the trash and leafy parts of the canes from the billets.

It is usual to direct the air stream upwardly through the path of the cane billets so that the trash and leafy sections become entrained in the air, and to then deflect this material outwardly to one side of the machine. This arrangement is not altogether satisfactory, for, if the trash is heavy, such as when it is wet or includes the top portion of the cane stalks, the air blast is not sufficiently strong to lift the heavy material the necessary height above the billet conveyor to be discharged to the side of the machine. Thus the heavier portions of the trash tend to fall out of the air stream and become lodged on projecting surfaces of the machine, including the sides of the conveyor and are thus carried away with the billets.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide in a cane harvester means whereby the trash and leafy sections of the cane are more effectively separated from billets and discharged from the sides of the machine.

With this object in view, there is provided according to the present invention, in a cane harvester having a billet cutter and conveyor means to carry the cane billets issuing from the billet cutter, the combination of fan means disposed to direct a stream of air upwardly through the path of said cane billets to separate trash therefrom, deflector means disposed above the conveyor means to direct the air and entrained trash laterally beyond one side of the conveyor through a discharge opening, at least portion of the lower edge of said opening being defined by a roller having a tooth formation on the peripheral surface to grip the trash, and drive means to rotate the rollers in a direction to discharge the trash outwardly through the opening.

The roller having a tooth formation, suchas serrations or the like, readily grips-any heavy trash which contacts it and due to its direction of rotation carries this trash outwardly through the opening to be discharged from the side of the machine. The roller is preferably positioned close to the top of the sidewall of the conveyor only slightly above the normal level of the billets on the conveyor so that the heavy trash tending to drop out of the air stream soon after separation from the billets, is caught by the roller and discharged from the side of the machine.

The fan generating the air stream is conveniently located immediately upstream from the billet cutter where the cane billets are thrown through the air by the billet cutter onto a conveyor. However it should be realized that the fan may be placed at other locations in the harvester where the billets are being conveyed.

The invention will be more readily understood from the following description of one practical arrangement of the trash removal apparatus as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of portion of a billet type cane har vester,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along line 11-11 in FIG. 1.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the known rotary chopper l severs the stalks of cane into billets l 1, and the rotation of the chopper throws the billets rearward to the conveyor 12. The rollers 13 are driven to rotate in a direction to assist in the passage of the billets to the conveyor 12.

The fan 15, located beneath the rollers 13 and driven through the gearbox l6, delivers a stream of air upwardly through the billets moving from the chopper 10 to the conveyor 12.

The deflector hood 20 extends across the conveyor from the sidewall 21 to define with the opposite sidewall 22 the discharge opening 23. The front and rear wall 24 and 25 respectively and top 26 of the hood are positioned so that the air stream, with the trash entrained therein, are deflected rearwardly and across the conveyor toward the discharge opening 23.

The roller 30 extends along the lower edge of the rear portion of the discharge opening 23, and is supported for rotation in the direction indicated. This rotation causes trash contacting the roller to be lifted and moved outwardly through the discharge opening. As the heavier portions of the trash have a substantial component of velocity in the same direction of movement of the cane billets, the efiect of this component of velocity with the component induced by the air stream is that the heavier trash as well as being moved upwardly and to the side of the machine, also moves rearwardly. Thus it is preferable that the roller 30 be placed along the rear portion of the discharge opening as this is where the heavy trash tends to concentrate.

The roller is of a square cross section, and tapering from the rear to the forward end with a serrated blade 31 along each of the longitudinal edges. The tapered shape of the roller avoids the forward end of the roller constituting an obstruction against which the heavy trash could be blown by the air stream and then deflected back onto the conveyor.

The roller is driven by the hydraulic motor 32 as hydraulic power is readily available, on most cane harvesters, however any suitable power drive means may be used.

I claim:

1. A cane harvester having a billet cutter and conveyor means to carry the cane billets issuing from the billet cutter, the combination of fan means disposed to direct a stream of air upwardly through the path of said cane billets to separate trash therefrom, deflector means disposed above the conveyor means to direct the air and entrained trash laterally beyond one side of the conveyor through a discharge opening, at least portion of the lower edge of said opening being defined by a roller having a tooth formation on the peripheral surface to grip the trash, and drive means to rotate the roller in a direction to discharge the trash outwardly through the openmg.

2. The combination claimed in claim 1, wherein the roller extends at least along the rear portion of the lower edge of the discharge opening.

3. The combination claimed in claim 1, wherein the roller reduces in cross section from the rear towards the forward end thereof.

4. The combination claimed in claim 1, wherein the roller is of square cross section with a serrated blade along each longitudinal edge constituting the tooth formation.

5. The combination claimed in claim 1, wherein the roller is of square cross section with the cross section reducing from the rear towards the forward end of the roller with a serrated blade along each longitudinal edge constituting the tooth formation.

6. The combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fan means is disposed to direct the air stream upwardly between the billet cutter and the conveyor, and the deflector means comprises a hood extending from one sidewall of the conveyor across the path of the billets and defines with the opposite sidewall of the conveyor the discharge opening. 

1. A cane harvester having a billet cutter and conveyor means to carry the cane billets issuing from the billet cutter, the combination of fan means disposed to direct a stream of air upwardly through the path of said cane billets to separate trash therefrom, deflector means disposed above the conveyor means to direct the air and entrained trash laterally beyond one side of the conveyor through a discharge opening, at least portion of the lower edge of said opening being defined by a roller having a tooth formation on the peripheral surface to grip the trash, and drive means to rotate the roller in a direction to discharge the trash outwardly through the opening.
 2. The combination claimed in claim 1, wherein the roller extends at least along the rear portion of the lower edge of the discharge opening.
 3. The combination claimed in claim 1, wherein the roller reduces in cross section from the rear towards the forward end thereof.
 4. The combination claimed in claim 1, wherein the roller is of square cross section with a serrated blade along each longitudinal edge constituting the tooth formation.
 5. The combination claimed in claim 1, wherein the roller is of square cross section with the cross section reducing from the rear towards the forward end of the roller with a serrated blade along each longitudinal edge constituting the tooth formation.
 6. The combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fan means is disposed to direct the air stream upwardly between the billet cutter and the conveyor, and the deflector means comprises a hood extending from one sidewall of the conveyor across the path of the billets and defines with the opposite sidewall of the conveyor the discharge opening. 